1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fishing reels with clicking sound generating means and, more particularly, to a fishing reel, which includes a clicking sound generating means formed using various washers arranged between a drive gear operated in conjunction with a spool for winding a fishing line thereon and a central shaft for the drive gear, thus enabling easy manufacture and assembly while minimizing the changes made to the structure of a conventional fishing reel, and ensuring a superior clicking sound generating function while having cost competitiveness, therefore providing a rhythmical clicking sound for enhancing the attractiveness of fishing, in addition to preventing the fishing line from being damaged or cut by a pre-existing brake function.
2. Description of the Related Art
An earlier patent disclosure that deals with the art of generating a clicking sound when a spool is rotated as a fishing line unwinds is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 0547269 of BANAX Co., Ltd, which was registered on Jan. 20, 2006 and is entitled ‘clicking sound generating device of fishing reel’. This device is constructed so that a user turns on or off a clicking sound. However, the device is problematic in that its construction is complicated, so that assemblability and productivity are low, and it fails easily.
Further, Korean Patent No. 0665068 of HYUPSUNG Precision Co., Ltd, which was registered on Dec. 28, 2006 and is entitled ‘fishing reel’, discloses a structure which has a clicking pin on a drag plate which rotates along with the rotation of a main shaft. The click pin is elastically biased by a coil spring type of click spring to continuously collide with a click notch and thereby generate a clicking sound.
However, such a structure makes assembly difficult and easily breaks.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-34005 of DAIWA Precision Co., Ltd, which was laid open on Feb. 19, 2009, is similar to the above patent No. 0665068 and has the same problems as does the patent No. 0665068.
The applicant of the present invention is a company specializing in the field of fishing reels and possesses many intellectual properties in the field of reels. Among them, Korean Patent No. 0508962, which was registered on Aug. 9, 2005 and is entitled ‘clicking sound generating device for bait reel’, discloses a fishing reel with a clicking sound generating means.
This patent is directed to a clicking sound generating device which is mounted to a tension nut that controls a casting distance by adjusting the rotational speed of a spool shaft using frictional force. The device is constructed so that a click spring comes into contact with a click plate having on an inner circumference thereof a spring contact part, thus generating a clicking sound.
The inventor(s) of the present invention changed and expanded on the spirit of patent No. 0508962, and thus are proposing a fishing reel which generates a clicking sound while a spool is rotated by the unwinding of a fishing line when a fish takes the bait.